Advances in computer technology (e.g., microprocessor speed, memory capacity, data transfer bandwidth, software functionality, and the like) have generally contributed to increased computer application in various industries. Particular technological advances have been made with respect to wireless applications in the telecommunications industry. However, under conditions of extreme network congestion, such advances have failed to adequately provide a method or system for allocating resources for highly prioritized communications.
In existing wireless access networks, new call requests are queued if no radio channels are available at the time. The queued call request is then served whenever radio resources become available, wherein calls marked as having a higher priority are typically served first. Under normal operational conditions, the queuing delay for call requests is typically small. Moreover, given the mobile nature of wireless device users, the availability of radio resources is very dynamic. Existing prioritized schemes are thus generally adequate under normal or mild congestion conditions.
However, under certain extreme conditions where callers typically have longer call holding times and they are concentrated at a focused area, radio resources may be fully utilized. Such conditions may, for example, arise immediately following a natural disaster where an extraordinarily large amount of people located near the disaster site may be attempting to utilize their wireless devices. Because of the potential difficulty of obtaining wireless connectivity under those conditions, some callers may be prone to hold their calls for a long time in case they are no longer able to make calls.
Under such extreme conditions, wireless networks experience radio access congestion due to the limited available radio channels, which causes the call blocking rate to rise. Existing priority calling features, such as WPS (Wireless Priority Service) and GETS (Government Emergency Telecommunications Service), are only useful when there are available radio channels. Namely, if no radio channels are available, WPS/GETS callers will not be able to obtain radio access even if all the radio channels are occupied by low priority calls. The only way for such WPS/GETS callers to access radio channels is to thus wait for an existing call to end so that a radio channel is made available. Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system that facilitates allocating radio resources to accommodate prioritized radio communications under extreme network conditions.
The above-described deficiencies are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional systems, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with conventional systems and corresponding benefits of the various non-limiting embodiments described herein may become further apparent upon review of the following description.